GARDENS
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RIVER VIEW
A riverwalk on the St. Lucie River will provide a vantage point for watching boats. In the not-too-distant future, Port St. Lucie will have a botanical
garden where grass and trees grow today.
Spot on St. Lucie to become botanical garden
BY SUSAN BURGESS
PHOTOS BY SUSAN BURGESS
Sometime in the next few years, a 60-year-old banyan tree on the banks of the North Fork
will be surrounded by a botanical garden. But for now, it stands without cultivated company,
spreading its multi-rooted arms to the sky.
Ten acres along the river’s edge will blossom into a public botanical garden, its plants interspersed
with paths winding to a river boardwalk.
“The boardwalk on the south side of Port St. Lucie Boulevard will connect to the boardwalk in
Veteran’s Memorial Park on the north side,” said Chuck Proulx, Port St. Lucie director of parks
and recreation. “It will go under the bridge that crosses the river.”
The price tag and completion date for the garden won’t be known until a $250,000 engineering
and design plan is finished a year from now.
Councilman Chris Cooper came up with the garden idea as a passive park, in contrast to the
city’s sports parks.
“I want this to be a community hands-on project with volunteers and with clubs and corporations
adopting sections,” Cooper said.